Shanghai is a coastal metropolitan city with various types of natural wetlands, which account for 23.5% of its total area. According to the definition of wetland in Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the wetlands of Shanghai were classified into 4 types: coastal, riverine, lacustrine, and reservoir and pond wetlands. In order to examine the roles of wetlands in the life-support system of Shanghai, we calculated the area of each type of the wetlands using GIS technique, and then measured the ecological service values of different ecosystems in Shanghai based on the classification of ecosystem services proposed by COSTANZA et al. (1997). The estimated annual value of ecosystem services in the study area was 7.3×109US$/a for the total area of 1 356 700ha, among which about 97% was provided by the wetlands. Effective conservation and management of wetlands are therefore crucial to Shanghai’s sustainable development. The limitations of the evaluation method for ecosystem service value were also discussed in the present paper.
